What?
- And then over here... - Check it out they're noodles now!
- We know those noodles now! - We are familiar with them now.
Oh wow this looks tasty.
Hello everyone on Youtube!
- I am Cathy Cat from the Ask Japanese channel. - I am Asou Natsuko from Japan in Motion.
Today we have come to Nakano in Tokyo.
YES!
Today we will make a report about RAMEN. (popular Japanese noodle soup)
Japanese ramen have become popular world wide now.
When I go to a ramen restaurant, I see a lot of foreigners eat there.
Cathy how about you?
Ramen noodles come actually from China, right.
But they took the idea and made it suit the Japanese tastes.
Today we will show you some of the secrets of good Ramen!
Today's special Ask Japanese and Japan in Motion collaboration video takes us
to Nakano in Tokyo.
We went away from the busy streets into a living area
where we found a place that lets us have a look at real ramen noodles.
And how the magic is done.
For this we changed into special suits...
and ventured into an unknown territory.
Oh wow what a place!
The scent of flour is in the air.
We have come to the inside of the factory now...
In what order do you make all of this?
Over here we first mix the flour with the other ingredients.
Over there, we make the dough.
And finally we cut it into the right shape.
This here is the starting point then. - Right.
There are so many different types of flour here.
We pick locally made flour, based in what type of noodles we need to create.
We blend them and create the dough.
So the dough comes out of there?
We are just mixing it now. - Will it pour out soon? - Yes.
Whooooooooooa
Wow! - I didn't think it would look like that.
And it already comes out at the other end straight away as dough.
So the separate dough will be compressed.
They compress it here.
It looks like one long dough sash.
That's how you make that rool!
Do you wanna lift it? - Can we?
ARGH
Don't hurt yourself. - Uuuh.
Wow... I really didn't expect it to be this heavy.
Apparently one of these weighs 10 kilos.
Super heavy stuff.
When do you start work here in the mornings?
We start at 1am in the early mornings. - What? In the middle of the night?
We create it that night so we can deliver it fresh to the ramen restaurants
in the mornings.
- That's super early. - Wanna see how they are cut?
Sure show us please.
What?
It gets raised and lowered by rolls...
And then over here...
- And then over here... - Check it out they're noodles now!
- We know those noodles now! - We are familiar with them now.
If we throw them into hot water, can we eat them already? - Yes!
These ones are fresh raw ramen now.
Raw ramen. These ones are curly, the other ones there are straight raw ramen.
We make many different types of ramen noodles here.
Then cut them here.
So if you put the setting right, you can change their shape.
These ones are done. - Freshly formed.
When you look at these, you really start caring more about these noodles.
Makes me want to think, I should appreciate being able to eat them. - True.
- And done. - Wow that was quite an experience.
I was surprised how quickly they can actually be made.
You can eat them straight away on the next day and even the same day they're made.
That was quite impressive.
I think focusing so much on the freshness of the noodles is very Japanese.
To my surprise the factory has a person kitchen that lets people try the ramen there and then.
So let's ask the managing director of Taisei Foods about their Ramen strategy.
Thanks for chatting with us.
Since when does this factory exist here?
For about 100 years by now.
What? 100 years?!
You have a meeting room and a kitchen next to it, why the kitchen?
Not all ramen restaurants are successful.
There are many which actually fail in their attempt to make a successful restaurant.
So we teach ramen restaurant important ramen know-how
The kitchen there is like a school for ramen restaurants.
Recently some want to open ramen restaurants abroad,
they come here to learn the basics first.
Japanese people who want to open ramen restaurants abroad?
We are changing into a more global world.
Getting more people come like that, we can spread the ramen love over the world.
Would be great if that was possible.
And I hope that will bring happiness to many people.
Thank you so much.
Are you hungry already?
Natchan and Cathy's adventure continues here in a but but before
that lets's go and Ask Japanese on the streets
about the BEST ramen in Japan.
What's your favourite ramen?
I like soy sauce ramen.
Pork broth ramen!
Oh yes pork broth all the way.
Spicy Miso ramen soup is great.
That sounds already so tasty.
Salt ramen base is better than Soy, because you can eat more of it.
Especially if you have vegetables with it, you can eat a lot.
I like the pork soup base better.
My relative lives in Hakata which is famous for it's ramen.
It ate there a lot, so I became to love the Hakata ramen style.
Hakata ramen is generally made with pork? - That's right gurl.
I love pork soup ramen from the ICHIRAN restaurant.
Wow you are specific about that one. Why?
They have a secret sauce recipe and it tastes so good.
When do you feel like having some steaming hot ramen?
- When it's cold. - On rainy days.
And when I am stressed they're great.
De-stress ramen noodle binge!
SLURP! YAAAAH!
Exactly like that!
Do you have a favorite noodle type?
I like the thin and hard ones.
I like the thin noodles and when they are more al dente.
When you add the noodles to the soup, they become soggy quickly.
So I make them a bit too hard so they are just right when I eat them.
That's the way.
Seems like we have a ramen professional here.
I like the thick and hard ones, they are nice and squishy.
I like the thin and harder ones because they have a real bite to them.
They are incredibly tasty.
Wow total opposites you guys. Everyone has a different favourite here.
I like them warikata style. - Warikata?
You only boil them for a short moment. They are super hard.
They still have a good bite. My recommendation would be to boil them for 30 seconds.
30 seconds? They barely touched the hot water.
That makes them tasty. You should try it too.
Because you like them hard, you need to eat them quickly.
I like hard noodles so much, I could eat them without boiling them.
I haven't tried that yet. I shall do that sometime.
Warikata. Try it out. - Thank you for your time.
Switch back to Nakano and Natchan and Cathy Cat.
We heard there is a popular ramen place called Shanghai Menkan.
which actually serves the noodles made by Taisei Foods where we went earlier.
Now that we have seen how the noodles are made,
to actually go and try and taste them.
Wow that looks so good.
- It's done! - It looks so good!
Cathy, yours is done too!
Wow that looks amazing.
Wow all the colors on the plate look so pretty.
Now. Usually I would start with reviewing the soup but this time I'll start from the noodles.
Let's try it!
Wow this looks so good. The noodles are so thin!
How how how? - Yum yum yum!
The flavor, the bite, the smooth texture, it all tastes amazing.
Cathy you should try it too!
I like the smell of the dough.
This smells good.
The good thing about Tsukemen type noodles is that you dip them into the sauce.
That's what makes them fun.
The tsukemen look thicker than the ramen noodles.
Yum!!!
This is so tasty! Amazing.
You only dip them in for a quick moment...
But the flavor gets soaked up by the noodles almost instantly.
It has a real good bite to it, and it is really nice and chewy.
Now that you have seen the factory, has your opinion on ramen changed?
It has. My love for ramen has gone up 3-40 times.
Even though I am full, I still wanna keep eating more. - Exactly!
I understand now how much Japanese work at creating this dish.
I am gonna eat it all. Thanks makers!
Finally being able to taste real fresh ramen is the best!
And they were soo good.
Just the thing you want at the end of a busy day.
Thanks for the feast.
Wow that was so good.
That was a real feast and it was so good.
It was!
When you come to Tokyo, you need to try the noodles at that place.
It was soo good.
- It's really close to the station! - Japanese ramen noodles are the best!
Shall we go home? - Wanna eat some more?
Let's have some more! - Ok see you guys! Bye!
Now if you come to Nakano you can't go into the factory like we did
But! But!
We found out that there is a shop right next to the factory
called "Rakubaku sha".
That sells noodles and more. So you can get the noodles, soup
and more other fresh things fresh out from the factory.
So you can make your very own special ramen at home.
Now have you had ramen before?
What's your favorite type of ramen noodles?
Leave us a comment! We're looking forward to reading your tasty ramen recommends
Comment straight away. And until next time on Ask Japanese!
Bye!!!
bai bai